It’s in the can...

The history of the British beer can is being kept alive by a small group of enthusiasts. Andrew Burnyeat reports

Almost all breweries – either by luck or design – have a can collection of some sort. When they close, as they so often do these days, the cans all too often die with them.

Why does it matter? Well, to some, it may not, but a lot of the artwork, symbolism and sheer financial value is lost when a particular can disappears forever.

It certainly matters to one small group of collectors who make up the British Beer Can Collectors Society.

Led by Roger Tucker, the group’s 20 members share a dream of establishing Britain’s first national museum of beer cans.

And they’d have plenty to fill it with. Roger alone has over 5,000 cans in his garage, and that’s small fry compared to one fellow member who has more than 40,000.

Both men feel it’s something of a shame that only a very small group of people ever get to see these wonderful collections.

Roger’s haul are almost exclusively British, while his friend’s come from all over the globe.

The Society was founded in the 1970s and followed the fortunes of many of the smaller political groups of the time.

There was a split between the internationalist members, who wanted to collect cans from all over the world, and those who wanted to focus on cans produced at home.

“The members from overseas wanted our British cans but we didn’t want theirs,” says Roger. As a result of this confusion in the ranks, the society slowly but surely ceased to exist.

Roger reformed the group in 1997.

“I knew people would still be interested, so I adver.....

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By Andrew Burnyeat

Section : Collecting Beer

Page number : 61